Pennsylvania antisemitic incidents reach new high, according to ADL

For the third year in a row, antisemitic incidents in Pennsylvania have reached a new high, according to the 2024 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents by the Anti-Defamation League.

The Keystone State ranked fourth in the United States for the most antisemitic incidents in 2024, with 465 incidents reported — an 18% jump from 2023. Nationally, there were 9,354 incidents of antisemitic assault, harassment and vandalism — an 893% increase over the last 10 years — the ADL reported.

Of the confirmed incidents tracked in the audit, 72% were attributed to harassment, 25% to vandalism and the remaining were physical assaults.
The spike of antisemitic incidents following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel continued, with totals exceeding any other annual tally in the last 46 years, making 2024 the fourth year in a row national antisemitic incidents increased, and breaking the previous all-time high. The average 12-month total for 2024 averaged more than 25 targeted anti-Jewish incidents in the United States per day — more than one an hour — according to the report.

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For the first time in the ADL’s reporting history, a majority of the incidents, 5,452, were related to Israel. Nearly 2,600 took place at anti-Israel rallies in the form of antisemitic speeches, chants, signs and slogans. Pittsburgh has been home to several of these rallies, a large portion of which took place around the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, and were organized or promoted by groups like Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Pittsburgh Apartheid Divest and Steel City Antifascist League.

Students for Justice in Palestine and the Party for Socialism and Liberation were the two most active organizers or co-sponsors of protests where antisemitic incidents occurred, the ADL reported. Combined, they were involved in more than 50% of the protests in this category.

Allegheny County reported 84 incidents, second only to Philadelphia County. Most of those, 78, occurred in Pittsburgh. The city was second in the list of top cities and towns with the most reported incidents, surpassed only by Philadelphia. Both cities are home to large university campuses, where 45% of the state’s incidents occurred.

“In Pittsburgh, we saw a lot of vandalism this year and, unfortunately, a couple of the assaults that happened in the report happened to University of Pittsburgh students,” said Kelly Fishman, the ADL’s regional director serving Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania.

One of the more alarming trends, Fishman said, has been the number of times swastikas were present at rallies or painted as graffiti. The Nazi symbol was found everywhere from public places to elementary schools, she noted.

“And I’m really concerned about the rise of Holocaust denial, of Holocaust misinformation, of people saying, ‘Oh, Jews are making up the numbers and the experiences of the Holocaust,’” she said.

Fishman said that what has occurred in Pittsburgh over the last year has been alarming.

“The idea that we can shut down Jewish voices — we’ve seen BDS referendums and a lot of antisemitism on campus,” she said.

The ADL continues to be concerned by antisemitic incidents from the far-right and far-left, Fishman said, noting that there is a “horseshoe effect” where the two seemingly polar opposite political ideologies meet.

“When we think about any kind of extremist ideology, when you become so extreme that you’re willing to use violence, there starts to be a lot less that separates you,” she said.

Fishman is hopeful that antisemitic incidents have reached their apex on college campuses but said there are still a disproportionate number of outside agitators, not associated with the universities and colleges, who are attempting to “keep the fire burning around the issue where a lot of students in places like Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Case, have kind of let go of that,” she said.

Those outside agitators, she said, often push content created by Iran, Hamas, and other of its proxies.

Despite the efforts of those hoping to continue to push anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and antisemitic messages, local universities have “been working really hard to fight against antisemitism on campus,” she said, noting that Carnegie Mellon went from a C to a B, and the University of Pittsburgh rose from a D to a C in the ADL’s antisemitism report card.

And while much of what has been occurring on college campuses is initiated by far-left groups, Fishman said far-right extremists are still active.

“We’ve seen it shift into more progressive ideology, really targeting the LGBTQ+ community, the immigrant community,” she said. “White supremacists and extremists follow whatever’s happening politically in the country so right now we’re seeing them target those progressive ideologies. To be fair, they still use antisemitic tropes — that didn’t go away but we are seeing them move especially into anti-immigrant ideology.”

Fishman said the battle against hate is fought in person and online. She noted that several platforms — including Roblox and Minecraft — have become home to antisemitic rhetoric.

“There was a story from a rabbi I worked with in Ohio, who called me because a gentleman in the community called him and said, ‘My child got sucked into this online platform.’ The school called and said there had been some pretty antisemitic ideology that the child was sharing. It was a 10-year-old girl,” Fishman said.

If there is a bright spot in the last year, Fishman said, it’s that the Jewish community isn’t standing alone.

“We do see a lot of allies in Pittsburgh,” she said. “We’re working with the Hindu community. We’re working with the Black community. These are all identity groups that have also felt the pressure.”

There were 76 antisemitic incidents logged into the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Virtual Command Center this time last year. So far, there have been 98 reported in 2025. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.